Media Mattersdetails the wide mainstream media silence regarding a partial sentence from the second from last paragraph of Patrick Fitzgerald's January 23rd response (PDF) to a letter demanding further Executive branch information in the Special Prosecutor's possession from I. "Scooter" Libby's lawyers.The sentence:

We advise you that we have learned that not all email of the Office of the Vice President and the Executive Office of the President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal archiving process on the White House computer system.

The President shall take all such steps as may be necessary to assure that...such records are maintained...The President may dispose of those of his Presidential records...if—(1) the President obtains the views, in writing, of the Archivist concerning the proposed disposal of such Presidential records; and(2) the Archivist states that he does not intend to take any action under subsection (e) of this section.

I guess the mainstream media doesn't find this information helpful in the maintenence of their lucrative status quo...

Oh, Mr. Bush!Get ready to snarl at an intern or scream at a low-level advisor because this past Tuesday evening’s warbling, off-key SOTU solo provided few hum-able refrains for America’s tune-hungry heartland.An editorial in yesterday’s News-Sentinelfrom Fort Wayne, Indiana said it best:

Tuesday night was a clear indication of an administration that is out of ideas…On foreign policy, Bush repeated the usual platitudes…On the domestic front, the president's offerings were pitiful…The state of the union would be better if Bush hadn't dragged America into the needless Iraq war -- hadn't plunged the federal government into horrendous debt through tax giveaways to the rich -- hadn't neglected worker safety, hurricane preparedness, environmental protections and other safeguards. His new focus on oil shouldn't distract Americans from the harm he has brought to the nation.

Another story, while not related to Mr. Bush specifically, reminded me, with modest shoehorning, of Bushista behavior and style.Is it such a stretch to suggest that Wednesday evening’s “gun and hatchet” attack in a New Bedford, Massachusetts gay bar has the warm, nutty aroma of Mr. Bush’s warm, nutty White House?“Squinty-eyed” Jason Robida, the axe attacker, according to bartender, CNN and the New York Times, sported the “stone cold look” we’ve come to associate with Messer’s Bush, Rove, Bartlett, Cheney, Rice and Hughes (snicker!), Chertoff, Rummy, Negroponte and countless other neo conservative Oval Office enablers.The attacker, dressed like our jogging leader, displayed the same thoughtless overkill we’ve come to expect from the Bush/Rove war and politics machine.And, as we will soon witness in Iraq, the attacker quickly fled the scene.I feel certain that paltry excuses, another hallmark of the Bush regime, will, once Robida is captured, just as easily spill from the fleshy lips of this axe attacker, a graduate of New Bedford’s junior police academy and a collector of "’Nazi regalia’”.The kid seems to be a Rovian natural.Perhaps, if humanity is truly doomed, these social and political axe attackers will meet in the exercise yard of their future prisons.

Cindy Sheehan was arrested Tuesday in the House gallery after refusing to cover up a T-shirt...the T-shirt said, "2,245 Dead. How many more?"...Sheehan was arrested around 8:30 p.m. on charges of unlawful conduct...She was handcuffed and held in the Capitol building until she was driven to the Capitol Police headquarters for booking...she was released about four hours after being arrested.